Rock crusher



July 15, 1958 N. MATTHEWS ROCK CRUSHER Filed Jan. 15, 1957 INVENTOR NEWTON L. MATTHEWS ATTORNEYS United States Patent ROCK CRUSHER Newton L. Matthews, Hailey, Idaho Application January 15, 1957, Serial No. 634,308

4 Claims. (Cl. 241--84) This invention relates to rock or ore treating apparatus and more particularly to a crushing mechanism for crushing rock or ore and reducing the same to particles of substantially predetermined size.

Heretofore, numerous types of rock or ore crushers have been developed or utilized, but these frequently become clogged during operation due to the presence of a restricted discharge throat which often necessitated the manual dislodgement ofrock and the like, which frequently necessitated shutting down the crushing apparatus and where it was attempted to dislodge the rock manually during operation, a serious likelihood of injury to persons attempting same was introduced. Furthermore, these prior art crushers frequently become clogged due to a force feed arrangement which continued to feed rock or ore thereto, regardless of the rate of crushing of the same and consequently, where crushing operations were slowed by particularly hard rock or the like, the crusher frequently become clogged and thereby rendered inoperative until cleared.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a rock crusher incorporating automatic feeding means for feeding rock thereto in accordance with the speed of the crushing operation.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a rock crusher in which the area of the discharge opening remains constant and is disposed over substantially the entire area of a fixed crushing jaw thereby eliminating restricted discharge throats.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a rock crusher in which the size of particles may be conveniently adjusted by removing or adjusting the fixed crushing jaw.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a rock crusher which may be conveniently and economically manufactured from readily available materials and incorporating a minimum number of parts thereby reducing maintenance costs to a minimum.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a rock crusher in which the danger from flying rock particles has been substantially eliminated.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a rock crusher constructed in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 an end elevational view of the rock crusher shown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 a fragmentary view in perspective showing the structure of the fixed crusher jaw.

With continued reference to the drawing, there is shown a rock or ore crusher constructed in accordance with this invention and which may well comprise an elongated generally rectangular housing having side walls 11 and 12, an end wall 13 and open at the bottom 14. Mounted on the housing adjacent the end wall 13 and at the upper side thereof, is a feed hopper 15 which may 2,843,329 Patented July 15, 1958 serve to receive and feed rock or ore to the crushing apparatus in a manner to be later described.

A fixed crushing jaw 16 is mounted in the housing and is inclined downwardly from the end wall 13 toward the opposite end 17 of the housing 10 and it is to be noted, that the upper end of the fixed jaw 16 adjacent the end wall 13 of the housing 10 is disposed below the outlet 18 of the feed hopper 15. The fixed crushing jaw 16 comprises a plurality of spaced, substantially parallel bars 19 and as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, such bars are generally tapered in cross section with the wider faces 20 disposed uppermost. Tapered spacers 21 may be disposed between the bars 19 adjacent the ends thereof, in order to maintain the same in spaced substantially parallel relationship. The width of the spacers 21 may be varied in order to vary the spacing between the bars 19 thereby determining the size of the particles which have been crushed and passed between the bars, in a manner to be later described.

A guide sleeve 22 is fixed in the wall 13 between the fixed crushing jaw 16 and the discharge end 18 of the hopper 15 and slidably mounted in the sleeve 22 is a hollow plunger 23. The plunger 23 may be provided with an enlarged portion 24 slidably engaging the inner surface of the guide sleeve 22, and intermediate shoulder 25 and a reduced hollow portion 26 terminating in an end wall 27. A ram 28 of either solid or hollow con-' struction, may be slidably received in the enlarged portion 24 of the plunger 23 and disposed between the inner end 29 of the ram 28 and the end wall 27 of the plunger 23 is a compression spring 30 which serves to yieldingly urge the ram 28 outwardly of the plunger 23.

Pivotally connected at 31 to the end wall 27 of the plunger 23 is a connecting rod 32 which in turn is provided with an eccentric strap 33 surrounding an eccentric 34 mounted on a shaft 35 disposed transversely of the housing 10 and rotatably mounted on brackets 35. It will, therefore, be seen that upon rotation of the shaft 35, the plunger 23 will be reciprocated in the guide sleeve 22 and the inner face 36 of the ram 28 will engage rock or ore flowing downwardly from the discharge outlet 18 of'the hopper 15 and move such rock or ore longitudinally of the fixed crushing jaw 16. In the event the rock or ore engaged by the face 36 of the ram 28 becomes lodged in the crushing apparatus, the compression spring 30 will yield thereby permitting relative movement betweenthe ram 28 and the plunger 23 and stopping feeding action until such time as the rock or ore becomes free and thereafter the feeding operation will proceed in a normal fashion.

A movable crushing jaw 37 may be provided at one end with bearings 38 and 39 which engage pivot pins 40 and 41 respectively, which in turn are journaled in bearings 42 and 43 respectively mounted on the sidewalls 11 and 12 respectively of the housing 10. The movable crushing jaw 37 extends longitudinally of the housing 10 above and in spaced relation to the fixed crushing jaw 16 and at the opposite end of the movable jaw 37 from the pivotal mounting thereof, there is provided upstanding ears 44 and 45 which serve to receive a cross shaft 46 which in turn pivotally mounts connecting rods 47 and 48. The upper ends of connecting rods 47 and 48 are provided with eccentric straps 49 which engage spaced eccentrics 50 fixed to a crank shaft 51 rotatably mounted in bearings 52 fixed to the sidewalls 11 and 12 of the housing 10 and the crank shaft 51 may be provided with a drive pulley 53 mounted on one end thereof and connected by any suitable means, such as a belt with a source of power for driving the same. It will be seen that upon rotation of the crank shaft 51 that the movable crushing jaw 37 will be pivotally moved toward and away from the fixed crushing jaw 16 and the movable jaw 37 may be of solid steel plate or of any other suitable material.

In operation, rock or ore to be crushed is fed into the hopper andthereafter flowsdownwardly by gravity through the outlet end 18 of the hopper 15 and is engaged by-the reciprocating ram 36' in order to urge the ore or rock longitudinally. of the fixed jaw 16 and betweensuch jaw and the movable jaw37 which is assumed to be operating. As the rock or ore moves downwardly on the fixed jaw 16, the same is crushed by the action of the movable jaw 37 engaging the same and the crushed or reduced particles will be discharged downwardly through the spaces between the bars 190f the fixed jaw 16f a'nd outwardly through the open bottom 14 of the housing 10. Since theopening between the bars 19 of the fixed jaw 16 extends substantially throughout the length thereof, a relatively large discharge opening is provided which eliminates the usual restricted discharge throat provided in certain types of prior art crushers. It is to be noted, that the lower end of the movable jaw 37 closely approaches the surfaces of the fixed jaw 16 and consequently, the rock or ore is progressively crushed as the same movesdownwardly on the fixed jaw. 16 and particles which are not reduced sufficiently to passbetween the bars 19 of the fixed jaw 16, pass outwardly of the apparatus at the end 17 of the housing land may, if desired, be returned to the hopper 15 for further .crushingoperations.

It'will be seen that by the above described invention, there has been provided a. relatively simple, yet highly effective rock or ore crusher andit is to be noted, that since the crushing operations take place toone side of the discharge opening 18 of the hopper 15, that flying rock or ore particles will not be projected upwardly through the hopper 15 with the likelihood of injury to surrounding apparatus or persons. Furthermore, since there is no restricted discharge throat, the likelihood of ore or rock becoming lodged in the crusher is substantially eliminated and the automatically yieldable feed means serves to feed the rock or ore to be crushed in accordance with the'speed of the crushing operation.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may-be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A rock crushercomprising an elongated generally rectangular housing having sidewalls and amend wall and open at the bottom, a feed hopper adjacent said end wall of said housing, a fixed crushing jaw mounted in' said housing and inclined downwardly fromsaid end wall beneath said hopper toward the other end of said housing, said fixed jaw comprising a plurality of spaced substantially parallel bars disposed in thesame plane, each bar being tapered in cross section with'the Wider face uppermost, a rock feeder comprisinga guide sleeve extending through said end wall between theoutletof said hopper and said fixed jaw, a hollow plunger slidably mounted in said sleeve for reciprocation longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a rock engaging ram slidably mounted in said plunger, a compression spring engaging said ram and said plunger to yieldably drive said ram from said plunger, a rotatably mounted shaft disposed transversely of said housing, an eccentric on said shaft, a connecting rod between said eccentric and said plunger to reciprocate said plunger and ram upon rotation of said shaft to feed rock from said hopper longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a movable jaw pivotally mounted at one end on said housing adjacent said hopper and extending toward the other end of said housing above and in spaced converging relation to said fixed jaw, a transverse crank shaft rotatably mounted on said housing adjacentsaid other end, eccentrics on saidcrank shaft and connecting rods between said' all jaw, whereby upon rotation of said crank shaft to pivotally move said movable jaw toward and away from said fixed jaw rock disposed between said jaws will be crushed with the crushed rock being discharged between the bars of said fixed jaw.

2. A rock crusher comprising an elongated generally rectangular housing having side walls and an end wall and an opening at the bottom, a feed hopper adjacent said end wall of said housing, a fixed crushing jaw mounted in said housing and inclined downwardly from said end wall beneath said hopper toward the other end of said housing, said fixed jaw comprising a plurality of spaced substantially parallel bars disposed in the same plane, each bar being tapered in cross section with the wider face uppermost, a rock feeder comprising a guide sleeve extending through said end wall between the outlet of said hopper and said fixed jaw, a hollow plunger slidably mounted in said sleeve for reciprocation longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a rock engaging ram slidably mounted in said plunger, a compression spring engaging said ram and said plunger to yieldably drive said ram from said plunger, a rotatably mounted shaft disposed transversely of said housing, an eccentric on said shaft, a connecting rod between said eccentric and said plunger to reciprocate said plunger and ram upon rotation of said shaft to feed rock from said hopper longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a movable jaw pivotally mounted at one end on said housingadjacent said hopper and extending toward the other end of said housing above and in spaced converging relation to said fixed jaw, a transverse crank shaft rotatably mounted on said housing adjacent said other end and connecting rods between said crank shaft and the other end of said movable jaw, whereby upon rotation of said crank shaft to pivotally move said movable jaw toward and away from said fixed jaw, rock disposed between said jaws will be crushed with the crushed rock being discharged between the bars of said fixed jaw.

33. A rock crusher comprising an elongated generally rectangular housing having side walls and an end wall and open at the bottom, a feed hopper adjacent said end wall of said housing, a fixed crushing jaw mounted in said housing and inclined downwardly from said end wall beneath said hopper toward the other end of said housing, said fixed jaw comprising a plurality of spaced substantially parallel bars disposed in the same plane, each bar being tapered in cross section with the wider face uppermost, a rock feeder comprising a guide sleeve extending through said end wall between the outlet of said hopper and said fixed jaw, a hollow plunger slidably mounted in said sleeve for reciprocation longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a rock engaging ram slidably mounted in said plunger, yieldable means engaging said ram and said plunger to yieldably drive said ram from said plunger, a rotatably mounted shaft disposed transversely of-said housing, means connecting said shaft and said plunger to reciprocate said plunger and ram upon rotation of said shaft to feed rock from said hopper longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a movable jaw pivotally mounted at one end on said housing adjacent said hopper and extending toward the other end of said housing above and in spaced converging relation to said-fixed jaw, a transverse crank shaft rotatably mounted on said housing on said other end and connecting rods between said crank shaft and the other end of said movable jaw, whereby upon rotation of said crank shaft to pivotally move said movable jaw toward and away from said fixed jaw rock disposed between said jaws will be crushed with the crushed rock being discharged between the bars of said fixed jaw.

4. rock crusher comprising an elongated generally rectangular housing having side walls and an end wall and open at the bottom, a feed hopper adjacent said end wall 'of said.- housing, a fixed crushing jaw mounted in said housing and inclined downwardly from said end 5 wall beneath said hopper toward the other end of said housing, said fixed jaw comprising a plurality of spaced substantially parallel bars disposed in the same plane, each bar being tapered in cross section with the wider face uppermost, a rock feeder comprising a hollow plunger slidably mounted in said end wall beneath said hopper for reciprocation longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a rock engaging ram slidably mounted in said plunger, yieldable means engaging said ram and said plunger to yieldably drive said ram from said plunger, a rotatably mounted shaft disposed transversely of said housing, means connecting said shaft and said plunger to reciprocate said plunger and ram upon rotation of said shaft to feed rock from said hopper longitudinally of said fixed jaw, a movable jaw pivotally mounted at one end on said housing adjacent said hopper and extending toward the other end of said housing above and in spaced converging relation to said fixed jaw, a transverse crank shaft rotatably mounted onsaid housing adjacent said other end and connecting rods between said crank shaft and the other end of said movable jaw, whereby upon rotation of said crank shaft to pivotally move said movable jaw toward and away from said fixed jaw rock disposed between said jaws will be crushed with the crushed rock being discharged between the bars of said fixed jaw.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,211,409 Chiftenden Jan. 9, 1917 2,169,390 McCurdy Aug. 15, 1939 2,489,074 Behnke et a1. Nov. 22, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 53,101 Austria Aug. 13, 1890 

